Editing Keokuk, Iowa (section)

==History==
[[File:Keokuk IA Barber 1865p527cropped.jpg|thumb|left|Keokuk in 1865.]]
Situated between the Des Moines and Mississippi rivers, the area that became Keokuk had access to a large trading area and was an ideal location for settlers. In 1820, the US Army prohibited soldiers stationed along the Mississippi River from having wives who were Native American.<ref>Sloat, Jerry. "Lee County, Iowa".</ref> Dr. Samuel C. Muir, a surgeon stationed at Fort Edwards (near present-day [[Warsaw, Illinois]]), resigned his commission rather than leave his Indian wife and crossed the river to resettle. He built a log cabin for them at the bottom of the bluff, and became the area's first white settler. 
 
As [[steamboat]] traffic on the Mississippi increased, more European Americans began to settle here. Around 1827, [[John Jacob Astor]] established a post of his [[American Fur Company]] at the foot of the bluff. Five buildings were erected to house workers and the business. This area became known as the "Rat Row".

One of the earliest descriptions of Keokuk was by [[Caleb Atwater]] in 1829:

{{blockquote|The village is a small one containing twenty families perhaps. The American Fur Company have a store here and there is a tavern. Many Indians were fishing and their lights on the rapids in a dark night were darting about appearing and disappearing like so many fire flies; the constant roaring of the waters, on the rapids the occasional Indian yell, the lights of their fires on the shore, and the boisterous mirth of the people at the doggery attracted my attention occasionally while we were lying here. Fish were caught here in abundance.<ref>Caleb Atwater (1831) ''Remarks made on a tour to Prairie du Chien: thence to Washington City, in 1829''. p. 58-59. Columbus, Ohio: Issac Whiting</ref>}}

The settlement was part of the land designated in 1824 as a [[Half-Breed Tract]] by the United States Government for allotting land to [[mixed-race]] descendants of the [[Sauk people|Sauk]] and [[Meskwaki]] tribes.<ref name=Lee/> Typically children of European or British men (fur traders and trappers) and Native women, they were often excluded from tribal communal lands because their fathers were not tribal members. Native Americans considered the settlement a neutral ground.<ref>Sloat, Jerry. "Lee County, Iowa". p. 44</ref> Rules for the tract prohibited individual sale of the land, but the US Congress ended this provision in 1837, creating a land rush and instability.<ref name=Lee>[http://www.rootsweb.com/~ialee/data/halfbreed.htm "The Half-Breed Tract"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080202205100/http://www.rootsweb.com/~ialee/data/halfbreed.htm |date=2008-02-02 }}, Lee County History. Retrieved 1/28/08.</ref>

Centering on the riverboat trade, the settlement continued to grow. The village became known as Keokuk shortly after the [[Blackhawk War]] in 1832. Why residents named it after the Sauk chief is unknown. Keokuk was incorporated on December 13, 1847. Soon after, Captain W. Clark would be elected as the first mayor. On December 14, 1848, Keokuk was incorporated as a city by the 2nd [[Iowa General Assembly|General Assembly of the State of Iowa]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://cityofkeokuk.org/community/history-of-keokuk/ | title=History of Keokuk | website=City of Keokuk}}</ref>

Barnard States Merriam was elected mayor in 1852 and reelected in 1854.

In 1853, Keokuk was one of the centers for outfitting additional immigrant [[Latter-Day Saints]] [[American pioneer|pioneers]] for their handcart journey west; 2,000 Christian Latter-Day Saints passed through the city.<ref>Jenson, Andrew. ''Encyclopedia History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints'', p. 398</ref>

Keokuk was the longtime home of [[Orion Clemens]], brother of [[Samuel Clemens]], better known as Mark Twain. Samuel's visits to his brother's home led him to write of the beauty of Keokuk and southeastern Iowa in ''[[Life on the Mississippi]].''<ref>[http://www.online-literature.com/view.php/life_mississippi/58?term=iowa ''Life on the Mississippi.''] Mark Twain. Ch. 57</ref>

At one time, because of its position at the foot of the lower rapids of the Mississippi, Keokuk was known as the Gate City.<ref>{{cite book |last= Bartlett|first= John Russell|date= 1877|title= Dictionary of Americanisms: A Glossary of Words and Phrases Usually Regarded as Peculiar to the United States|url= https://archive.org/details/dictionaryameri02bartgoog|publisher= Little, Brown, and Company|page= [https://archive.org/details/dictionaryameri02bartgoog/page/n296 241]}}</ref> During the [[American Civil War]], Keokuk became an embarking point for Union troops heading to fight in southern battles. Injured soldiers were returned to Keokuk for treatment, so several hospitals were established. A national cemetery was designated for those who did not survive. After the war was over, Keokuk continued its expansion. A medical college was founded, along with a major-league baseball team, the [[Keokuk Westerns]], in 1875.

In 1913, [[Lock and Dam No. 19]] was completed nearby on the Mississippi River. The population of Keokuk reached 15,106 by 1930.<ref>Jensen. ''Encyclopedic History'', p. 398</ref> During the last half of the 20th century, Keokuk became less engaged in Mississippi River trade and more dependent on jobs in local factories.